Fabrication of a novel "all in one glove"- a functional tool for oral hygiene maintenance and the assessment of its effectiveness on plaque control in spastic cerebral palsy patients.

Abstract

Background & objective: Spastic Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder from non-progressive brain injury or malformation during development, severely impairing movement, coordination, reflexes, posture, balance, and motor skills. Individuals with spastic CP experience limb spasticity, complicating tasks like precise gripping, particularly with toothbrushes. This study proposed a novel "all-in-one glove" for oral hygiene, assessing its efficacy and comparing it to conventional toothbrushes for spastic CP patients.

Methods & materials: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 30 clinically diagnosed spastic CP patients with Group 1 consisting of 15 Subjects with clinically diagnosed spastic CP with generalized gingival diseases using conventional oral hygiene techniques with weekly oral hygiene reinforcement and Group 2 consisting of 15 Subjects with clinically diagnosed spastic cerebral palsy with generalized gingival diseases using the novel "all in one glove" method for oral hygiene maintenance with weekly oral hygiene reinforcement. The Clinical Parameters assessed includes Full mouth plaque scores, Full mouth bleeding scores and OHI scores recorded at baseline, 3 and 6 months.

Results: A statistically significant reduction was observed in Full-mouth Plaque, Bleeding, and Oral Hygiene Index (OHI) scores in both the groups (48.87% & 43.285%, 31.57% & 26.66%, 57.29% & 47.37% respectively). The Group 2 exhibited a marginally higher percentage reduction in all clinical parameters compared to the Group 1 at the measured time points.

Conclusion: The utilization of the "All in one glove" has improved the effectiveness of oral hygiene maintenance and gingival health in spastic CP individuals.

Clinical trial registration: [ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier, [REF/2022/06/055641].